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Property Services Service Standards

We will:

• Plain English Campaign
  • Write all major publications and customer letters in accordance with the Plain English campaign
    
    
• Dealing with Complaints
  • Deal with problems urgently to avoid them becoming a complaint
  • Monitor complaints
  • Reply in writing within 10 working days
    
    
• Telephones
  • Give name and department when answering telephone
  • Answer the phone promptly or divert to answer-phone if not available
  • Update answer-phone message daily
  • Deal with answer-phone messages daily
    
    
• Holiday Cover
  • Make sure work is supervised even when on holiday
    
    
• Correspondence
  • Answer letters within 7 working days
  • Keep a record of letters received
    
    
• Appointments
  • Provide out of hours appointments if required
  • Make special arrangements for shift workers
    
    
• Identity
  • Wear identification cards
  • Carry business cards
    
    
• Customer Information
  • Issue information leaflets for major works
  • Publish information in the 'Tenants News Letter'
  • Issue questionnaires on work carried out
  • Publish customer satisfaction results
  • Produce a Property Services booklet to be held in Reception and Council Offices
    
    
• Consultation with Councillors, Tenant Groups and Customers
  • Business Planning and Asset Management
  • Specification of materials to be used and the standards expected
  • Setting standards expected of staff
  • Programming works
  • Customer choice
  • Response times for day to day maintenance
  • Identify areas for improvement
    
    
• Monitor
  • Customer satisfaction levels
  • Appointments made by contractors
  • Completion dates on inspection and jobs
  • Cleaning by contractor during and after work
  • Budgets, complaints, compliments, and customer views
  • Letters are answered within the timescales
    
    
• Contractors
  • Make sure that contractors are correctly qualified and are suitable for the work they have to do
    
    
• Benchmark
  • Compare our standards with other local and national organisations
    
    
• Contract Meetings
  • Hold regular contract meetings inviting customers to attend
    
    
• Value for Money
  • Make sure that work carried out gives value for money

We will make sure that our contractors will:

• Appointments
  • Make appointments to suit our customers
    
    
• Identity
  • Wear Identification Cards and are smartly dressed
    
    
• Quality Control
  • Carry out the work correctly and in a clean and tidy manner
  • Be careful of customers' personal property, that may be affected by the work in progress

E-mail: propertyservices@dover.gov.uk